This just highlights the problems we libertarians face

A short while ago I posted this below. The trouble we have is that there is no really effective way, to convert our articulated opposition to statism into effective action to remove it, and to thus prevent statism ever troubling mankind again. We did have one or two fleeting opportunities, such as late-Sept 1944 (Arnhem and the aftermath, when we could have got the Ruhr and Berlin in a week), May 1945 (when we could have over-run Moscow) and the Fall of the Wall in 1989 and the few months that ensued. But we did not seize them.

Margaret Thatcher is hated by many libertarians, for merely making the British State more “efficient”. There is some truth in this accusation. But she did want to “abolish socialism for ever” (as I believe that she said once.)

As liberals should (I suppose) say, we allow people to exist and gallivant about in our midst, who profess to want to destroy us and all we stand for. We have no right to be not offended. I actually don’t think, in my advancing old age, that this is a right way to behave about important matters such as liberty. Perhaps it is because I see the Sands of Time running out for me, or perhaps not.

Mu comment below was about the forced insertion of characterisations and life-roles of a certain kind, not generally thought of by most humans as how they themselves would want to behave, into the pedagoguy of unprogrammed young people under the ages of, say, nine or ten (or less.) The only justification of such moves would be to undermine the thoughts and modes of social interaction that they would ordinarily get inside their own family groups – looking at what probabilists would call “the expectation of” some result or other!

We libertarians can argue till we are blue in the face, about typeface colours on posts, or whether so-and-so is right about the aspects of this-that-and-the-other-in such-and-such cases. but until we can know how to DO REGIME CHANGE, really, now, when it matters, we will be of no use at all.

3 responses to “This just highlights the problems we libertarians face”

No one can do regime change unless you bomb and kill which is both unchristian and most assuredly un Libertarian. I have seen this sliding to Babel since I became aware of politics. Anyone opposed to socialism or Statism in a position of power is cautioned (Reagan being shot) or removed (Thatcher) because the enemy is totally evil. Of course being a theologically orthodox believer I see the Devil behind socialism/Statism. The ultimate attempt to forge world government and uniformity on all was at Babel. I think we all know what God thought of that little exercise and having visited Babylon, I can attest to the fact there is nothing left of the Tower! I see socialism as being as closely allied to original sin as it can be. It is also Satanic in its ability to make people feel good. The Statism and the socialism go hand in glove as without Statism, socialism falls at the first hurdle. The State steals from the producer class and gives money to the deserving poor (in small measure) and then gives the rest to both the undeserving poor (TM) and the employees of……….. The State! So it makes people feel doubly good in that it pays their wages for “administering” the “charitable acts” of the State, thus salving their conscience at the same time. The triple win win for the State is that the State takes the place of God! I firmly believe that the State is the Beast mentioned in the Book of Revelation. As for the friend of the Beast, the False Prophet, well, you will have to work that one out for yourself but organized and institutionalized religion comes pretty close…….. So the answer my dear old friend is you can’t “do regime change” without becoming that which you hate. The State has captured the moral low ground, infected the institutions (the TTCs were corrupted as long ago as the late fifties, the Church corrupted in the 1920’s), so we can be a band of brothers but the change will not come. We are at the leading edge of economic and social collapse. It is merely a matter of time before the banks and the economic system are seen to have no clothes, barring the zillions of fake money wrappers they keep printing to cover their loins, and everything is up for grabs. Then you will see anarchy across the western world and a reaction from the emerging nations unlikely to be helpful. Lastly, the State / socialism can act as a representative of God, but of course, the cross, sin, duty, sacrifice, death, judgement, heaven and hell and the resurrection of the dead, are eliminated, thus making it an awful lot more attractive than an option requiring spiritual introspection and societal responsibility. I write from Delhi. I wish I could remain here and not have to return!

As Tolkien showed so well, trying to put on the Ring of Power doesn’t really solve anything; the act of doing so changes the wearer, and that’s about it. Economically and politically, I think the West has reached the point described so well by one of the characters in Babylon 5: “The landslide has started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote”.

As a libertarian Christian, I’ve resolved with the Lord’s help to live as free and godly a life as I’m able in current and ongoing conditions, and to tell anyone who’ll listen why I’m convinced that:
(i) A libertarian approach to life allows everyone to live more harmoniously and sustainably on this earth (but doesn’t guarantee it), whereas statism guarantees a life based on, and characterised by, theft, lies and conflict.
(ii) A Christian way of life offers those who desire to pursue it hope, meaning, peace and reconciliation with God and many others. What’s more, in a libertarian society, such a life doesn’t involve playing tug of war with anyone for the state’s levers of compulsion. I note that my faith also helps me access the riches of a cultural legacy which the state is currently determined to deny and withhold from everyone.

”but until we can know how to DO REGIME CHANGE, really, now, when it matters, we will be of no use at all.”

I suggest the strategy of subverting the State from within.

Spreading and propagating ideas on how to obstruct officialdom in its functions, how to avoid licences, fees and taxes, how to appeal and protest government impositions. All the while creating a drip, drip of prop= liberty, anti State propaganda.

Encourage the use of unofficial news sources, encourage ‘grey market’ transactions, encourage anything that breaks the States monopoly and which encourages feelings of dependency.

A broad and vague set of proposals, i realise, but some direction for a ‘Long March’ of personal liberty against the State.